Kirk Douglas looks around America these days and he sees too many guns.

The 96-year-old actor, best known for performances in classic films like Spartacus, Paths of Glory and Lust for Life, took to the cyber pages of The Huffington Post to call for more gun control--and far less guns.

I often played the good cowboy on screen, riding in to save the day. Now, everybody thinks he is a cowboy too. That frightens me. We have become a cowboy country with too many guns....

I cannot understand the people who are against some form of gun control. They should be the first to welcome a message on making it more difficult to get a gun. Many of them seem to propose more guns being available to everybody. Why? Are they interested in making more money for the gun manufacturers? Are they politicians who just want to oppose the president in anything he endorses? It's incomprehensible to me.

If we’re talking about purely great films, ‘Paths of Glory’ and ‘Out of the Past’ are all time American masterpieces. As much as I love the Sergio Leone film you mentioned, I don’t know if Eastwood has been anything as good as those two.

In those days you were under contract to the studio. If they said you were going to play the third talking tree in the Magic Forest then that is what you did. You could refuse but that Studio system was an Old Boys Club and the phrase "you'll never work in this town again" was not an idle threat.

Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, New York, the son of Bryna “Bertha” (née Sanglel) and Herschel “Harry” Danielovitch, a businessman.[3] His parents were Jewish immigrants from Gomel (now in Belarus but then in Russia),[4][5] and the family spoke Yiddish.[6][7] His father’s brother, who emigrated earlier, used the surname Demsky, which Douglas’ family adopted in the United States.[2] In addition to their surname, his parents also changed their given names to Harry and Bertha.

His 1988 biography paints a memorable picture of his family in the early years in America. After noting that his father was denied work in the carpet mills, the town’s largest employers, because he was Jewish, Douglas writes:

So my father, who had been a horse trader in Russia, got himself a horse and a small wagon, and became a ragman, buying old rags, pieces of metal, and junk for pennies, nickels, and dimes. . . . Even on Eagle Street, in the poorest section of town, where all the families were struggling, the ragman was on the lowest rung on the ladder. And I was the ragman’s son.

Douglas grew up as Izzy Demsky and legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas before entering the Navy during World War II.[8]

Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI’s 100 Years...100 Stars is a list of the top 50 greatest screen legends in American film history, which included 25 male and 25 female stars. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 15, 1999 CBS special hosted by Shirley Temple, with 50 current actors making the presentations.

As of 2013, of the fifty stars listed, only five are still alive: two men (Sidney Poitier and Kirk Douglas), and three women (Shirley Temple, Lauren Bacall, and Sophia Loren). At the time the list was unveiled Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando and Gregory Peck were also still living.

There have been long standing rumours for years that Kirk Douglas allegedly raped Natalie Wood and she was terrified of him. In those days if you were a big box office draw studios covered up things so as not to destroy their stars credibility. The Hollywood insider known as Himmmm delivered three long posts in the comments that were supposedly about the Douglas-Wood story.

It describes how Natalie Wood wanted edgier roles (Rebel Without a Cause comes to mind) and eventually had an affair with a married director to get a desired part. Word got around that she would do the deed with anyone (with her mother’s encouragement) for a movie part and supposedly the Spartacus actor took her up on it.

Wood at this time thought she was powerful in the movie world, accepted the invitation and as soon as she walked into the door the actor made his intentions known. She decline his advances and he threw her down and ripped her clothing off. He allegedly raped her repeatedly and told her as she laid battered and hurt to come and see him the next night and he might give her a part. The actress’s mother accused Wood of making the actor angry and the damage to Natalie was permanent, both mentally and physically.

In 1949 actress Jean Spangler disappeared and Douglas’s name was brought up once again. On October 7, 1949 Spangler kissed her 5-year-old daughter goodbye and the next day an employee at Griffith Park reported finding Jean Spanglers purse near the Fern Dell entrance to the park. Inside the purse, written in Jeans hand, it read: “Kirk  Cant wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work out best this way while mother is away.” The 27-year-old B actress was reportedly three months pregnant and going to get an illegal abortion.

According to Palm Springs Life actor Robert Cummings, told police that the last film Jean had been working on she mentioned a recent new romance. Spangler told Cummings it wasn’t serious but she was having the time of her life. Douglas, when asked by police said he didn’t remember her and Spangler’s mother said the only Kirk Spangler talked about was the actor on the set. After exhaustive investigation Dr. Scott was found out to be a medical student who performed abortions for the Hollywood-set and the case is still open. Was it Douglas, her ex -husband, or the mob?

Creepy “Kirk Douglas” aka Issur Danielovitchold, son of impoverished Russian Jewish emigrants, spits on the people that made this country and allowed this pervert to emigrate and make a load of money as a half pint bad actor! Hope he doesn’t live to see another birthday, Go To Hell Issur and take your worthless sons with you!

That’s right! ‘ole Kirk had no problem with guns when he made all those Westerns.

Douglas says, “I cannot understand the people who are against some form of gun control....” Doesn’t he know that we have over 20,000 gun laws on the books? Is law 20,001 going to make a difference? He must be kidding. Sheesh.

134
posted on 06/06/2013 10:34:54 PM PDT
by july4thfreedomfoundation
(November 4, 2008 and November 6, 2012.....Two days that will live in infamy!)

EASTWOOD: Yes, I've always supported a certain amount of gun control. I don't -- I think California has always had a mandatory waiting period, so we were never concerned about it like the rest of the country. Some states didn't have any at all. So I've always supported that. I think it's very important that guns don't get in the wrong hands, and, yes, I would support most of that. I don't know too much about trigger locks. I've never really discussed that with anyone. But I do feel that guns -- it's very important to keep them out of the hands of felons or anyone who might be crazy with it.

PRESS: So what do you say -- I don't know whether you're a member of the NRA or not. But what do you say to your friend Charlton Heston, who opposes all three, opposes any gun control measures?

EASTWOOD: Well, I don't agree with him on that, if that's his position. I haven't talk to him about it. When he first became one of the spokesmans for the NRA, I thought it was a good thing. I thought at least, well, if the guy's maybe putting his money where his mouth is, then he's going to go in there and enact some reform. And that would be a good thing, rather than just talk like most people do. But so far, they still seem to be stuck on one position of anti-any reform.

Unfortunately, what happens is they get pressured. They don't want to be pressured. Both sides get their heels dug in the mud because they don't want to be pressured on their stance there. I think that both sides have a point. When you say that there's a lot of laws that aren't even...

PRESS: Enforced.

EASTWOOD: ... enforced in this country, and then you -- and then the NRA says they want those done prior to gun control, or at least simultaneous with. Whether that will happen or not, I don't know, because both sides are kind of dogmatic.

135
posted on 06/06/2013 10:51:50 PM PDT
by familyop
(We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)

I thought this fool was taking a dirt nap too. His is the only autobio I have ever read in my life where I was neutral about the person before reading, and hated the SOB after I’d read it. Thoroughly nasty person.

142
posted on 06/07/2013 3:34:15 AM PDT
by gemoftheocean
(...geez, this all seems so straight forward and logical to me...)

Jane Fonda did some good acting jobs too, but we’re going to call the bitch on her anti-USA crap no matter how old she gets — BECAUSE SHE DESERVES IT when she spews her anti-American crap. Same with Kirk. You don’t get a “pass” because you did alright in some other area of life.

143
posted on 06/07/2013 3:42:11 AM PDT
by gemoftheocean
(...geez, this all seems so straight forward and logical to me...)

If he “doesn’t deserve nasty remarks” [for calling him on HIS BS] then he shouldn’t spew BS and espouse gun grabbing. His ways end up getting millions killed. I don’t give a damn how old someone is, or what “exalted” thing they’d done - -but it doesn’t give them a free pass to spout nonsense and not get called on it. No one held a gun to his head to say the crap he did, therefore he can and should be called on it. You don’t have to suspend reason and kiss his butt for saying stupid stuff.

144
posted on 06/07/2013 3:47:22 AM PDT
by gemoftheocean
(...geez, this all seems so straight forward and logical to me...)

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